Bloodlust
by eternalised
Summary: They have been enemies for as long as they can remember. But times are changing, and Risika finds herself needing Aubrey's help. But the closer they get, the stronger their desire for each other's blood and the harder it gets to resist...


**Chapter 1: Confrontations with the Past**

Although it had been a good while since she had sensed this particular aura, Risika would recognize it everywhere. It had that faint familiar scent, like a brush of the past, a swift pencil stroke in a painting. It was his aura. Aubrey's aura.

She didn't like vampires in general, although she was one herself. She despised the nightly creature that turned her into an immortal being without moral or respect for a human's life: her blood mother, Ather. She loathed her fellow night walkers because all of them were merciless hunters, ignorant to the pain and suffering of their prey. But most of all, more than she could even express in words, she hated Aubrey. If you would combine all the things she despised about vampires in general in one person, then you might be somewhat close to how Aubrey was, except he was worse. He was by far the most self-indulgent, ignorant, stubborn, egoistic, violent, merciless, vengeful, wicked predator she knew. And on top of that, she feared him. Or had feared him, for over three hundred years. Although she had now proven to be more powerful than he was, or at least equally powerful and a tad bit lucky, she could not yet get rid of the fear that clinched her heart whenever he was near.

Three hundred years ago, before the pathetic human girl named Rachel turned into the powerful immortal Risika, it was Aubrey who had first shown her a glimpse of the afterlife as a creature of the night. He had given her a black rose and she had in return given him her blood, not voluntarily of course, but merely by accident. She should have noticed it right then and there, in the menacing look in his eyes that he had not come to her with good intentions. But she was young and foolish and too innocent for her own good. The blood had sealed her destiny and she, unaware of the evils in this world, had not even foreseen it.

About a day later, the human Rachel died, as did her twin brother Alexander who tried to protect her because he, unlike his sibling, was well aware of the evils he had let into their house. The vampire Risika was born, a creature who had to feed off the blood of the innocent had she any wish to survive. Although it was Ather who had turned her into an immortal being, it was Aubrey whom she blamed, perhaps irrationally, but he was the one who had lured her into this world she did not even know existed and it had been him who stabbed her brother to death. She feared him so much that the sound of his voice could make her tremble, but she was too proud to show him how much fear he actually caused her.

Now everything was different. A lot changes in three hundred years. The scared child who feared the world of the night was no more and was replaced by a confident, strong vampire who no longer ran away from her nightmares. Risika had defeated Aubrey, she had drunk his blood – and shivered every time she thought about the sweet, strong taste of it – and now she could read his thoughts as if they were an open book. The fear should have been gone by now, and perhaps she only felt it now because it had been a long time since he had visited her. About a year, maybe more. The last time she had laid her eyes upon him, was when he walked away after her victory, a man defeated, a vampire without honor, defeated by his own blood sister and long-time nemesis.

Risika moved slowly, reluctantly. Even now, now she had come to terms with the fact that she was a predator herself and not any better than any other vampires, she despised him. She didn't want to face him because she thought it would make her throw up. No matter how much years had passed, no matter how much time had changed her view on things and even though she knew her brother was still alive, she would always see Aubrey as the murderer of her brother. When he stabbed Alexander, he may not have killed him, but he killed whatever connection there was between the siblings. For that, she loathed him.

Eventually she turned towards her old enemy and shot him her most uncaring look. "What do you want, Aubrey?" she asked him bluntly.

"Do I need an excuse to visit my blood sister?" he asked, avoiding the question. It was almost as if he was back to mocking her, like he used to. It unnerved her, angered her, but she kept a straight face. She was not in the mood for another fight.

He hadn't changed much in the year that had past. Of course it's natural for someone who has been twenty-something for over 5000 years not to get suddenly miraculously older. He was still remarkably handsome, intriguing to say the very least, his black eyes still as mesmerizing as ever. All of those traits were of course overshadowed by her overwhelming hatred towards him.

When she didn't say anything, Aubrey spoke again. "I take it you have heard about my whereabouts. Nothing goes unsaid in our small…community." He smirked. Viciously. Almost cruel.

"I care little about rumours concerning you and a human girl," Risika responded. "Or well, ex-human, if what Jager told me is true and you actually were dumb enough to change her." She gave him a calculated look. "So it is true," she concluded then. "You have fallen for a human. How pathetic. Tell me, blood brother, when I drained your blood, did it cause your brain cells to somehow disappear?" She mocked him now. She was more powerful than he was. The roles were turned.

But Aubrey was not defeated that easily. "Jessica is merely a distraction. Did you not notice, after all this time, that I have a weak spot for human girls and that I particularly enjoy turning them into vampires? After all, that is exactly what happened with Rachel."

The name stung. It had been a long time since someone had ever called her that way. Aubrey's courage was enormous, by all standards. Over the top, actually. She had proven once, not so long ago, that she could defeat him, did he want to give it another try? Did he want to try his luck knowing there was only a slim chance he could defeat her, now she had drunk his blood?

"If she is merely a distraction," Risika countered, "you would not mind me killing her then?" She enjoyed his weakness, his fondness for the newborn vampire, that could destroy him.

He smirked, coming closer towards her. She wondered for a moment how long he had been standing there before she noticed his presence, because she was so lost in memories and half-asleep. He always entered her room unasked for, had left black roses on numerous occasions, often notes, challenging her, angering her, laughing at her. He had a tendency to disrespect her privacy, perhaps because he thought that was simply another way to torment her. Visit her when she was at her weakest. Sound asleep, dazing off in her bedroom, feeling safe. Maybe he just never wanted her to feel safe.

Before she realized it, he was on top of her, pinning her to the bed she had been sleeping in just minutes ago, breaking down whatever shelter she thought she had created around herself. A knife, the one he had stabbed her with nearly three hundred years ago, a scar she had taken revenge for, was at her throat. She felt his weight on her, his power as he nearly crushed her wrists, both of them, in one hand. Although she had defeated him, he was still very powerful and she had let down her guard, once again, because she thought he would not ever dare to attack her after what had happened last year. But she wasn't the scared little girl she once was anymore, and instead of looking puzzled or even surprised, she merely raised an eyebrow, demanding an explanation of why he was threatening her.

He laughed at her, a laugh she knew all too well. "Do I not scare you anymore, Risika?" he asked tauntingly. "Or do you just not want to admit it? You may have defeated me once, but I still appear in your nightmares. And every time I take something away from you, do I not? First your life, then your brother, then the last shreds of humanity you had left. I always win, Risika. Even when you had your so-called victory, I won, because it left you with nothing else but emptiness: it made you the creature you despised. So, do not dare to touch her."

Risika was not in the least impressed. Angered would have been a better term for her emotions at the moment. She connected with Aubrey's mind, and in that brief second, she threw him all the way across the room, where he crashed into the wall. By the time he got up, just a few seconds later, she was standing right in front of him, holding him up against the wall, her hand closed tightly around his neck.

"Do not tell me what to do, Aubrey," she warned him. "You killed my Tora, I kill your human. It seems a fair deal to me. This isn't your town anymore and I'm not yours to play with anymore. I'm not some human you can boss around – in fact, I never was."

Her face was so close to his now that it felt most uncomfortable to her. Especially the fact that, by being so close, she was reminded of the time she drank his blood. She remembered the strong, extraordinary taste of it, she remembered how she had licked Aubrey's neck softly before she had let her fangs sank in his skin and tasted his pure, mesmerizing blood. It had been like something she had never experienced before. It had been intimate but distant at the same time, fascinating in the way that she felt his power, his thoughts and feelings, being transferred into her own being. For a brief moment, she had felt exactly like he felt, she had felt like they were one being rather than two separate entities, the way she always felt when she sucked a human's blood except one million times stronger. It was as if there was no one else on the entire planet, no good or evil, just the union that was them. Ever since that day, she had been craving for his blood, more than she had ever allowed herself to admit. It was not only the blood she longed for, but also that sense of unity they had shared for that brief moment.

Risika shook her head and released the memory while she backed away from the vampire slowly. She tried to have a blank expression, but it was too late. He had noticed. His smile was a mixture of surprise and amusement.

"So, you do crave it? I thought you, the big hypocrite who spent three centuries fighting her own nature, would be the last person on earth who would crave another vampire's blood. But it did have effect on you…You long for it, you want it." He paused for a moment. "Hah, never thought I'd live to see the day you want something from me. And my blood, from all things."

She hit him flat in the face, with all the strength she possessed. It was not a very feminine gesture, but it showed just about how angry she was at him. "Get out," she said, her voice a mere whisper, as she stared blankly at him. "Get out, or I will rip your heart out. I let you live the last time, but don't think I would grant you the pleasure of living if you cross my path once again."

He smirked as he looked at her, not in the least puzzled. "You know," he added, "it will only get worse now I'm back. You'll long for it every single moment of the day, it will haunt you, torment you…and that's just the beginning. One day, you'll beg me for another taste of it."

"Get out!" she yelled it, screamed it with her mind. She was furious.

He left, disappeared. She knew this was one battle she had lost and now he knew her weakness, now she was vulnerable to him once again…


End file.
